Thieves make off with HK$730,000 worth of valuables, cash in Hong Kong’s second burglary at upmarket estates in 2 days
- Residents discover kitchen window pushed open and their Repulse Bay flat ransacked when they return
- Five watches valued at HK$680,000, gold ornaments worth about HK$30,000 and HK$20,000 in cash were stolen from safe
An upscale flat in Hong Kong’s exclusive Repulse Bay was burgled with HK$730,000 (US$92,998) in valuables and cash stolen from a safe, police said on Thursday.
Officers were called to the South Bay Garden estate on South Bay Close soon after 10pm on Wednesday after receiving a report of a break-in from a first-floor tenant – a 39-year-old man.
Police said the burglary was discovered when the man and his wife returned home.
A kitchen window had been pushed open, and the flat ransacked, according to the force.
“Five watches valued at HK$680,000, gold ornaments worth about HK$30,000 and HK$20,000 in cash were stolen from a safe which had been prised open,” a police spokesman said.
The watches included brands such as Panerai and Rolex.
Officers combed the area, but no arrests were made. Detectives from the Western criminal investigation unit are following up on the case.
It was the second upscale flat targeted by burglars in the city in two days.
On Monday night, a businessman lost more than HK$1.8 million in valuables and cash in a burglary when he and his family left his flat at the Great Hill estate in Sha Tin.
In this case, a safe hidden in a wardrobe had been prised open. Seven watches valued at HK$960,000, jewellery worth HK$850,000 and HK$30,000 in cash were stolen.
Officers believed a burglar climbed up a drainpipe and entered the ninth-floor flat through an unlocked window, the force said.
Police handled 886 reports of burglary across the city last year, down nearly 40 per cent from 1,472 cases in 2021. According to the force, last year’s detection rate of 43 per cent was the highest in the past 46 years.
When announcing last year’s overall crime situation in the city last month, police said the number of robbery and burglary cases was the lowest since records began in 1969. There were 77 reports of robberies last year, down 37 per cent from 123 incidents logged in 2021.
